Another Take on Obama's Big Speech

I wanted to comment on Robert's excellent post, but my comment expanded so much that I decided to put it up as a separate post.

I wasn't planning to vote for Obama, and his speech confirms my impression of him as a socialist and weak. Wright, a racist, anti-American demagogue, is the guy Obama chose as spiritual leader? (Or maybe Mrs. Obama chose him. Same problem.) And white Americans are supposed to accept Wright as perfectly OK because some black Americans do? I don't see this happening. What I see is a serious problem in the political culture of black Americans who think Wright and others like him are anything but destructive, and I think that the Wright controversy has made many white Americans aware of this problem for the first time. The "national discussion about race" in this case looks like it may be evolving into a public discussion about black racism.

I doubt that any of this will help Obama's campaign unless he cuts Wright loose in every way, as he has refused to do. Most whites nowadays are not racists and would be happy to elect a competent black person President, which is one reason why Obama's campaign has done so well. But most whites nowadays are also too young to be tainted by or guilty about racial discrimination. They are probably going to look at the controversy about Wright and think: He's your problem, not mine.

There's also the socialism. Obama doesn't acknowledge the possibility that excessive government is the cause of the problems he discusses. Bad schools, healthcare issues etc. are all problems caused by discrimination or victimization, usually by big business, and are to be remedied by government action. He blames international trade for moving jobs overseas, an argument that reveals either economic ignorance or dishonesty. Obama is, ideologically, a throwback to the 1940s and 1950s, when markets were discredited and mainstream thinking favored extensive government involvement in the economy. I don't think he can be elected President unless he can somehow convince voters that he's not a leftist. So far he's been remarkably consistent in his leftist rhetoric, so I doubt that he will be elected unless McCain gets caught wearing a dress (or the political equivalent).